Wednesday, January 12, 2011

I went back to work on Tuesday, only to turn around and come home before lunch time because of the flood crisis that was starting to hit Brisbane. I am not in an area affected by flooding, thank goodness, so I can do little but watch it all happen on TV. It’s horrifying. I kind of remember the 1974 floods – I was almost 6 then – and the long effect it had on Brisbane afterwards. It influences my thinking a lot, when I see new housing estates on flat flood plains I always shudder and think how that area would fare in a flood situation. I guess we’re finding out now. When we were looking at houses to buy, real estate agents would try and make being near a creek attractive by selling it as park land, I would always be wondering how often the house would flood.

Couldn’t go to work this morning either, as Police have advised people to avoid travel where possible, and my work is at Toowong where there are some flood affected streets near the office. Tomorrow isn’t looking good either.

On the upside, I have had a lot of extra time to work on this quilt, which has a deadline looming (1 May, but it’ll have to be finished way before then).

I went for a walk to the creek at the end of the street, which is normally just a trickle and found this:

It won’t flood any houses, so I am relieved by that. There is a fair amount of water going through, but nothing compared to other areas closer to the river. I feel so helpless when I see the devastation on TV, I need to find something to do that will help someone. I don’t know what that is yet.